Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at God

I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. How the mighty have fallen! 2 Samuel 1:26 A lament is a passionate expression of grief, a heartfelt cry of sadness. Here David, who composed some of the most memorable...

Jesus’s death on the cross, and His resurrection on Easter morning are both part of the redemption story.  Paul links them in this way: ‘He was delivered for our offences [the Cross] and raised again [the Resurrection] for our justification’ (Romans 4:25).  Charles Wesley does likewise in his glorious Easter anthem. Christ the Lord is...

Making Sense of Lent From the vicar Where do we belong now? God and the Tesco token Psalm 63 – or how to cope with the pressures of daily life You may have surprised your parents, but never God How to discover God’s will for your life Round, like a circle in a spiral, like...

This month sees the start of Lent, the six-week period leading up to Easter. In the early Church, it was a time when new converts were instructed in the faith, ready for their baptism at Easter. Over the years, Lent has become a season of penitence, self-examination and fasting.  Jesus began His earthly ministry by...

This month sees the start of Lent, the six-week period leading up to Easter. In the early Church, it was a time when new converts were instructed in the faith, ready for their baptism at Easter.  Over the years, Lent has become a season of penitence, self-examination and fasting. Jesus began His earthly ministry by...

I was in France when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve 1973 – the moment Britain joined the European Union – and later I received the maroon passport which identified me as one of its 743m citizens. Almost all our new-found friends had been Britain’s enemies in the past, so this union seemed...

I was shopping recently with my wife at the local Tesco store. Having paid for our goods we were given a blue token, which my wife explained we could place in the donation box of a local good cause as we left the shop. Sure enough, near the exit were three large plastic containers into...

If you had to describe our society in a single word, the most appropriate one would be pressure. We live with pressure in every aspect of life, from our school, work or family life, to the big issues facing our world. King David knew what it meant to live under pressure. His son, Absalom, led...

I’m a March baby, the youngest of five children born to my parents in a small Yorkshire pit village in 1950. I think I was something of an afterthought, a surprise even, and the story of my entry into the world is quite amusing. In those days my mother, a stout lady, wore an apron...

Isaiah’s account of God calling him to be a prophet makes me ask, what does it mean to be ‘called’ by God? What does God want from me? Isaiah offered himself willingly when God asked whom He could send to speak on His behalf to Israel.   And Isaiah was given a difficult message to proclaim...

Many years ago, at the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool, there was a certain ‘ride’ or amusement that was strictly for the physically fit.  It consisted of a flat wooden disc about 20 feet in diameter and set at an angle of 45 degrees in the floor.  When it began to rotate, the aim was to...

Love Despite Brexit? From the vicar Be my Valentine? Psalm 95’s wise words on worship No need to fall Organised rain? Then the fun stops Shine, Jesus, shine   ** Editor:  The Rev Paul Hardingham considers the tensions that Brexit has caused. Love Despite Brexit? ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ (The Clash).  Since...